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A noobs journey through Ant Keeping (Camponotus barbaricus)

camponotus barbaricus journal

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19 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Lars - Posted July 22 2020 - 3:49 AM

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7/22/2020:

 

The ants came in and I got a queen with 1 ant (lucky me) and a couple of larvae, pupae and a bit of eggs.

The queen seemed to be doing well. I served them a bit of honey on the first day and they happily walked towards it to then do some trophallaxis.

I wanted to leave them alone so I didn't take many pictures. I took one as they came in as it should have been a long journey for the ants in shipping.

Sadly my dad came in picked up the tube and just rough housed them cause 'they are just ants' now I am really scared he stressed the queen out I told him to please stop and put them down but he didn't.

Anyway lets get on to the picture:

IMG_20200722_131114.jpg


Edited by Lars, July 22 2020 - 3:52 AM.

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#2 Offline CatsnAnts - Posted July 22 2020 - 3:58 AM

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Beautiful queen! Parents... I tell ya, they never listen, but I’m sure they’ll be fine!
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Spoiler

#3 Offline Lars - Posted July 22 2020 - 4:04 AM

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Beautiful queen! Parents... I tell ya, they never listen, but I’m sure they’ll be fine!

I hope so I got quite worried i'm just leaving them be right now and I don't know if its the right temp in my room


Edited by Lars, July 22 2020 - 4:04 AM.


#4 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 22 2020 - 4:15 AM

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Camponotus usually don’t get too stressed out. Just give her some quiet today.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#5 Offline Lars - Posted July 22 2020 - 4:22 AM

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Camponotus usually don’t get too stressed out. Just give her some quiet today.

I am a complete noob so I put the honey on a piece of baking paper cause I heard that was good and I don't know if I gave em right honey I got it from a local reseller it was fresh from their garden. Should I take out the baking paper in an hour or leave it overnight


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#6 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 22 2020 - 4:52 AM

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You can leave it a bit. Honey mixed with water will be easier for them to drink than plain honey. Organic honey or sugar would be safest.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#7 Offline CatsnAnts - Posted July 22 2020 - 4:53 AM

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What I usually do is soak a q-tip or cotton ball in honey (the honey you’re using is completely fine). It helps to prevent drowning in the honey, although it should be less of a concern since Camponotus are large ants. I always put my insects/honey on baking/wax paper, it makes for easier cleanup. Your doing just fine!
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#8 Offline Antkid12 - Posted July 22 2020 - 4:57 AM

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7/22/2020:

 

The ants came in and I got a queen with 1 ant (lucky me) and a couple of larvae, pupae and a bit of eggs.

The queen seemed to be doing well. I served them a bit of honey on the first day and they happily walked towards it to then do some trophallaxis.

I wanted to leave them alone so I didn't take many pictures. I took one as they came in as it should have been a long journey for the ants in shipping.

Sadly my dad came in picked up the tube and just rough housed them cause 'they are just ants' now I am really scared he stressed the queen out I told him to please stop and put them down but he didn't.

Anyway lets get on to the picture:

attachicon.gifIMG_20200722_131114.jpg

 

 Nice queen! My dad killed a Colobopsis queen once.  :(


Edited by Antkid12, July 22 2020 - 5:02 AM.

Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 


#9 Offline Lars - Posted July 22 2020 - 5:05 AM

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7/22/2020:

 

The ants came in and I got a queen with 1 ant (lucky me) and a couple of larvae, pupae and a bit of eggs.

The queen seemed to be doing well. I served them a bit of honey on the first day and they happily walked towards it to then do some trophallaxis.

I wanted to leave them alone so I didn't take many pictures. I took one as they came in as it should have been a long journey for the ants in shipping.

Sadly my dad came in picked up the tube and just rough housed them cause 'they are just ants' now I am really scared he stressed the queen out I told him to please stop and put them down but he didn't.

Anyway lets get on to the picture:

attachicon.gifIMG_20200722_131114.jpg

 

 Nice queen! My dad killed a Colobopsis queen once.  :(

 

Aw poor thing


What I usually do is soak a q-tip or cotton ball in honey (the honey you’re using is completely fine). It helps to prevent drowning in the honey, although it should be less of a concern since Camponotus are large ants. I always put my insects/honey on baking/wax paper, it makes for easier cleanup. Your doing just fine!

 

You can leave it a bit. Honey mixed with water will be easier for them to drink than plain honey. Organic honey or sugar would be safest.

Thank you 2 also if I edit the top message will it update and go to the top of the list


Edited by Lars, July 22 2020 - 5:05 AM.

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#10 Offline CatsnAnts - Posted July 22 2020 - 5:12 AM

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No, it won’t, I would just reply to this thread with a new update instead of editing the first post, like this:

Update
7-22-2020

Etc. list your new update.

Spoiler

#11 Offline NickAnter - Posted July 22 2020 - 5:56 PM

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That "worker" may possibly be an intercaste.


Edited by NickAnter, July 24 2020 - 7:29 AM.

Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#12 Offline TennesseeAnts - Posted July 22 2020 - 6:02 PM

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That "worker" is an intercaste, between male and female.

Huh. Looks like it could be.



#13 Offline Lars - Posted July 24 2020 - 3:59 AM

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That "worker" is an intercaste, between male and female.

 

 

That "worker" is an intercaste, between male and female.

Huh. Looks like it could be.

 

That explains a lot, It was mostly doing nothing and while the queen was laying and even if I put food in it was mostly the queen going to the food



#14 Offline AntsDakota - Posted July 24 2020 - 6:06 AM

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 It was mostly doing nothing and while the queen was laying and even if I put food in it was mostly the queen going to the food

 

Most nanitics are that way. Nanitics are, by nature, ridiculously shy, and afraid of everything. Camponotus queens, however, are very aggressive and bold.


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version


#15 Offline Serafine - Posted July 24 2020 - 6:56 AM

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That "worker" is an intercaste, between male and female.

What? No, it isn't. Don't diagnose ants you have no idea of, especially not on the basis of poor pictures.

Intercastes are hybrids between workers and queens. Ant females are diploid, males are haploid, the only male-female hybrids are gynanders that are one side male and one side female (or very very rarely one side worker and one side male).

 

This is a perfectly fine worker, the Camponotus subgenus Tanaemyrmex which Camponotus barbaricus is a part of is called "slim Camponotus" for a reason - the workers have very thin heads with eye positions significantly differing from the larger workers. From what I've read this group also has (unlike most other Camponotus subgenera) an actual caste dimorphism with smaller workers derived from a different basic blueprint than the larger workers (they overlap in the mid-sized region so it's basically invisible).

 

 

This is a nocturnal species and the ants will be super shy until they have a few hundred workers.

 

When they have grown to around 1000 workers you will start seeing workers sitting out in the open during the day but before that it will rarely ever happen and they'll do mostly just quick food runs. They will sit in their tube most of the time (thanks to their ginormous social stomachs) and tend to the brood which makes them appear super lazy but by Camponotus standards their overall growth rate is actually fairly quickly, mine made it from 0 to almost a thousand workers in around 18 months (and from there on they quickly escalate in size).

 

 

Here's a picture with the different worker head sizes. There are even more extreme forms in nanitics/minims and large majors but this should do.

 

 

 

 

Believe me, if you'll ever have males in your colony (or something that comes close to a male) you will spot them immediately. They look so unlike all the other ants in the colony, resembling more of a gnat than an actual ant, they stick out like nothing else. Even these pictures don't do them justice.

 

 

 


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We should respect all forms of consciousness. The body is just a vessel, a mere hull.

Welcome to Lazy Tube - My Camponotus Journal


#16 Offline NickAnter - Posted July 24 2020 - 7:28 AM

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I had seen many pictures of Camponotus barbaricus, having read your journal. The thorax and abdomen are what really made it look like an intercaste to me. Having looked at it from a different angle now though, I am not sure. It still looks a little off though. Better pictures will help us be sure.


Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#17 Offline Serafine - Posted July 24 2020 - 10:08 AM

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The abdomen looks fine, the thorax is a bit weird but I assume there's something on it (either sticking on top of the thorax or the ceiling of the tube). Could be some sort of debris or maybe the workers leg, there's also a possibility it's a graphical artifact. I'm fairly sure it's a normal worker, small colonies are just really shy and inactive (that's the reason I called mine Lazy Tube :D).


We should respect all forms of consciousness. The body is just a vessel, a mere hull.

Welcome to Lazy Tube - My Camponotus Journal


#18 Offline Lars - Posted July 24 2020 - 10:31 AM

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It was mostly doing nothing and while the queen was laying and even if I put food in it was mostly the queen going to the food

Most nanitics are that way. Nanitics are, by nature, ridiculously shy, and afraid of everything. Camponotus queens, however, are very aggressive and bold.
I noticed this while trying to give them their first little bit of honey I put it on baking paper and put it in and the queen came charging at the tweezers that were holding the paper

Edited by Lars, July 24 2020 - 10:33 AM.

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#19 Offline Serafine - Posted July 24 2020 - 4:37 PM

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When my colony had 4 nanitics one of them would frequently go berzerk when I was trying to feed them inside the tube to the point where I just gave it up and put their food into the outworld. Interestingly the two others and the queen didn't care at all while the other worker acted slightly interested.


We should respect all forms of consciousness. The body is just a vessel, a mere hull.

Welcome to Lazy Tube - My Camponotus Journal


#20 Offline AntsDakota - Posted July 25 2020 - 4:49 AM

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When my colony had 4 nanitics one of them would frequently go berzerk when I was trying to feed them inside the tube to the point where I just gave it up and put their food into the outworld. Interestingly the two others and the queen didn't care at all while the other worker acted slightly interested.

However, ‘berzerk’ doesn’t necessarily indicate aggressive behavior, just a very sensitive worker.

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version






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